Augustine Wynnall and Elizabeth Knighte

Great St Helen's Street, London, EC3
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © David Hallam-Jones - geograph.org.uk/p/3406231
The Grade II-listed 12th century Church of "St Helen's, Bishopsgate" occupies the centre space. This was William Shakespeare's parish church when he lived in the area in the 1590s.

Augustine Wynnoll (sic) and Elizabeth Knighte (though I suspect the final 'e' is superfluous) - who were a pair of my 9th great-grandparents - married on 12 May 1634 at St Helen's Church, Bishopsgate (one of only a few churches in the City of London to survive both the Great Fire of 1666 and The Blitz). 

Augustine and Elizabeth appear to have five children:

1. Mary Winnall b. Monday, 17 Feb 1634, Mary daughter of Augustine Winnall of Blackwall, Waterman bap. 20 Feb 1634 at St Dunstan and All Saints, Stepney (at 3 days old).
2. Elizabeth Winnall b. Tuesday, 29 Aug 1637, Elizabeth daughter of Augustine Winnall of Blackwall, Waterman bap. 6 Sep 1637 at St Dunstan's (at 8 days old). Elizabeth daughter of Augustine Winnall of Blackwall, Waterman, was buried at St Dunstan's on 24 Feb 1640.
3. Amy Winnall b. Friday, 1 Nov 1639, Amy daughter of Augustine Winnall of Blackwall, Waterman & Elizabeth bap. 6 Nov 1639 (at 5 days old)
4. John Winnall b. Wednesday, 23 Mar 1642, John son of Augustine Winnall of Blackwall, Waterman and Eliz., bap. 31 Mar 1642 at St Dunstan's (at 8 days old).
5. Rachell Winnall bap. 19 Oct 1643. Rachel daughter of Augustine Winnall of Blackwall, Waterman & Elizabeth, buried 20 Nov 1643.

Sadly, almost all the records of the Company of Watermen prior to 1666 were destroyed in the Great Fire of London so finding these records of a waterman from before that time, is gold. That it's my direct ancestor, breath-taking.

Their only son, John Winnall, who was my 8th great-grandfather, therefore, was born in the same year as the start of the English Civil War.

Augustine Wynnall of Blackwall, Waterman was buried, on 2 Feb 1642, at St Dunstan's, Stepney. (Which either means Rachel was a posthumous child, baptised very late, or (more likely) the date of her baptism, which only appears on the transcript of her burial, is incorrect. Perhaps it was 1641?)

Anthony Tompson of Blackwall, Sawyer, aged 26 years married Mary Winnall aged 20 years, at St Dunstan, Stepney, on 13 Feb 1654.

Buried on page 408 of the Calendar of the Quarter Sessions Papers: pt. 1. 1591-1621, is the following item: 

If this is the same Augustine Wynnall (and, with the same fairly unusual name, just seven years before the above marriage, I imagine it must be), then several conclusions may be drawn: he appears to have been wanted to appear before the Quarter Sessions for some reason that I have yet to discover; he probably originally hails from Buckland, Gloucestershire and he was a Labourer.

More interestingly, however, is that among the notable burials at St Helen's Church, Bishopsgate is the tomb of Sir Thomas Gresham (1519-1579), royal agent to King Edward VI (1547–1553) and Queens Mary I (1553–1558) and Elizabeth I (1558–1603) and founder of the Royal Exchange, whose father, Sir Richard Gresham (1485-1549), Lord Mayor of London, and Member of Parliament, who served as a commissioner under Henry VIII, had both held the manor of Buckland. One imagines, therefore, that Augustine Wynnall may have come to London in the service of their descendants.

Blackwall and the Watermen

Samuel Pepys, who commuted by water from his home to his job at the Admiralty, refers to the death of his waterman in his diaries of 1665 revealing the particular vulnerability of Thames watermen to infection. 

On Sunday 20 August 1665, he writes, "And I could not get my waterman to go elsewhere for fear of the plague."

Thames watermen and ferries: "Wherries could be hired at many stairs that led down to the Thames. Watermen gathered at each, jostling for custom, crying “oars oars sculls”. Working a passenger wherry, ferry, or barge on the Thames in all weathers and tides required knowledge and skill, with tides used to achieve remarkably quick journeys up and down river. The men who operated such craft, as well as those who transported goods by barge or lighter, were a special breed, whose families undertook the same work for generations."

Blackwall had a proud maritime tradition and both Raleigh and Nelson are said to have had homes here. The first colonists of Virginia sailed from Blackwall in 1606 and later the East India Docks - a group of docks in Blackwall, east London - brought thriving inter­na­tional trade.

Blackwall Yard was famous for building East Indiamen, which vessels were often called Blackwallers. Built in 1614, it was the first wet dock in the port of London and was the East India Company's principal shipyard, "... residential development at Blackwall commenced in earnest during the 1620s and 1630s, and it continued throughout the century as both the shipyard and overseas trade prospered and the demand for labour in the area increased." 

Henry Ralph Gabbedey and Elizabeth Louisa Osborn

St Botolph without Bishopsgate
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © John Salmon - geograph.org.uk/p/1193022

Henry Ralph Gabbedey, son of John Benbow Gabbedy and Isabella Cleghorn, married Elizabeth Louisa Sheldrick on 17 Sep 1833 at the church of St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate. Born Elizabeth Louisa Osborn and baptised on 24 Apr 1808 in Rotherhithe, daughter of James Osborn and Ann Hopwood, Elizabeth had previously married Thomas Sheldrick on 10 Oct 1830, also at St. Botolph Bishopsgate. However, by the time Elizabeth had their daughter, Eliza Maria Sheldrick baptised, on 19 Aug 1831, in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, Elizabeth was already described as a widow, although she wasn't, yet.

Thomas Sheldrick (43) "A convict in the General Penitentiary" (Millbank Prison), was buried on 5 Jul 1832 at the burial ground of the General Penitentiary, Millbank. In 1830, Thomas Sheldrick and at the same time John Kimpton, were both sentenced, in Cambridge, to 7 years Transportation for Larceny. Then there's a second record ordering the removal of Thomas Sheldrick and John Kimpton from Cambridge to the General Penitentiary on 14 Jul 1830. Clearly Sheldrick died before he could be transported. 

But it raises so many questions, like why did Elizabeth marry a convict?

Henry Ralph and Elizabeth Louisa Gabbedey had 10 children:

1. Henry William Gabbedey bap. 5 Oct 1834 at St John's, Wapping.
2. John Gabbodey (sic) b. 11 Dec 1835, bap. 27 Jan 1836 at Shadwell, Ebenezer Chapel, Independant, just north of Ratcliff Highway.
3. James Gabbedey b. 1837 S Quarter in SAINT GEORGE IN THE EAST Volume 02 Page 62 (Mother's maiden name listed as OSBORN).
4. Jesse Gabbedey b. 1837 S Quarter in SAINT GEORGE IN THE EAST Volume 02 Page 62 (Mother's maiden name SHELDUCK). There's no record of a marriage between anyone named Gabbedey and Shelduck, so I'm confident this is Sheldrick misspelled. It looks like Jesse and James (Actually, the outlaw Jesse James was not yet born) may have been twins, but why they were listed with different mother's maiden names, is a mystery. Died, aged 1, in 1839 J Quarter in Volume 02 Page 50.
5. Louisa Ann Gabbedey b. 1839 D Quarter in SAINT GEORGE (IN THE EAST) Volume 02 Page 77 (Mother's maiden name listed as OSBORN).
6. Charles Gabbedey b. 1842 M Quarter in SAINT GEORGE (IN THE EAST) Volume 02 Page 82. (Mother's maiden name listed as SHELDRICK).
7. Thomas Gabbedey b. 1844 M Quarter in SAINT GEORGE (IN THE EAST) Volume 02 Page 94. (Mother's maiden name listed as SHELDRICK).
8. Matilda Gabbedey b. 1845 S Quarter in SAINT GEORGE (IN THE EAST) Volume 02 Page 80. (Mother's maiden name listed as SHELDRICK).
9. Joseph William Gabbedey b. 1848 M Quarter in STEPNEY Volume 02 Page 566. (Mother's maiden name listed as OSBORN).
10. George Gabbedey b. 1850 J Quarter in STEPNEY Volume 02 Page 586. (Mother's maiden name listed as OSBORN). Died, aged 1, 1851 J Quarter in STEPNEY Volume 02 Page 381.

On Henry William's baptism, the family's address was listed as 70 Anchor and Hope Alley, (Browns Quay, Wapping), St. George in the East and Henry Ralph's occupation listed as Labourer. Later, on daughter Louisa's marriage in 1863, he is described as a Shipwright (as were his father and grandfather.) As I've seen before, once Civil Registration had been introduced in 1837, this family appear to have given up on baptisms. And which former name has been used on each of those registrations for the mother's maiden name looks random, however, I suppose it depends on how the question was asked.

In 1841, in Charles Square, St George, Tower Hamlets, were Henry Gabbedey (35), Elizabeth Gabbedy (33), Eliza Sheldrick (10), Henry Gabbedey (6), John Gabbedey (5), James Gabbedey (4) and Louisa Ann Gabbedey (2).

In 1851, Henry Gabbedey (44) General Labourer, was living in Sarah Street, Shadwell, with wife Louisa Gabbedy (43) purportedly from Hitchin, Hertfordshire; Henry Gabbedey (17), James Gabbedey (14), Louisa Gabbedey (12), Charles Gabbedey (10), Thomas Gabbedey (8), Matilda Gabbedey (6), Joseph Gabbedey (4), George Gabbedey (0), Eliza Sheldrick (20) and John Channing (21) Blacksmith from Newington, Surrey, Lodger.

Elizabeth Louisa Gabbedey died, aged 60, in 1868 M Quarter in STEPNEY Volume 01C Page 342 and Henry Gabbedey died, aged 70, on 30 Jan 1877 M Quarter in SAINT GEORGE IN THE EAST Volume 01C Page 299, leaving his effects to son and daughter, Henry William Gabbedey and Louisa Seares.